


night calls

by naevma



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, No S7 spoilers, falling in love<3, lots of fluff, my sweet babies, will probably add more tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-27 07:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20042248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naevma/pseuds/naevma
Summary: au | in which shani and nicky fall in love (not edited)





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> they did my girls so dirty this season, so i wrote this lil story.

It’s raining, even though that seems to be an understatement. It’s pissing and Nicky Nichols needs to get to work. She can’t be late again, her boss is going to murder her, literally. She pulls the hood of her jacket over the blonde mess on her head and runs even faster when she catches a glance of the time on her watch. When she arrives at the bus station, the bus is already gone. “Fucking hell!” She curses loudly. A kid next to her repeats the phrase and his mother shushes him, shaking her head in disbelief. Nicky sighs, fishes her phone out of her pocket to text Lorna she’s going to be late, she has to cover for her. 

Before she can hit ‘send’ the device crashes to the ground, this day could not go better. She takes a deep breath, tries to stay calm as she turns around to see the person who apparently can’t watch where they are going. “I’m so sorry, somebody pushed me, I didn’t mean to.” Nicky’s mouth practically fell to the floor when she took in the woman in front of her, she was beautiful. Brown curls cascading down her shoulders, bright hazel eyes gazing at her. “Are you okay?” Nicky notices she has been wordlessly staring at the stranger and snaps out of it quickly, “I- yeah, I’m good.” She stammers, “That old thing, eh, easy to replace, don’t worry bout it.” She smiles, “But I must make it up to you, I won’t take no for an answer.” The beautiful girl grins, Nicky hasn’t noticed her accent before. “May I invite you to coffee? There’s a place a few blocks away.” The blonde seems flustered for a moment, was she asking her out? “What’s your name?” She asks, the phone on the ground long forgotten. “Shani, it’s lovely to meet you, Nicky.” Shani tilts her head to the side, looks at Nicky’s shirt. Nicky furrows her brows in confusion, how did she know her name? Shani laughs, “It’s on your shirt.” Even her laugh is beautiful, she thinks. “About that coffee?” The brunette raises an eyebrow, realising she hasn’t received an answer just yet. “Coffee, sure! I work there, at the restaurant.” Not for long, Red is probably already waiting to kick her ass out of the door. 

The bus arrives and they finally arrive at RED'S. “What do you do, Shani?” Nicky learned that Shani is from Egypt, she came here a few months ago, she wanted a change of scenery, after graduating she worked in her fathers restaurant, but she realised that’s not what she wanted to do with her life and came to New York with nothing but her ‘dreams of tater tots and trashy television shows’. “I’m looking for a job, so I can afford college at one point.” She tells her. They announce their arrival with a ring of the bell when the door opens, it isn’t too busy. Some men in suits, probably on their way to work, few teens with their noses stuck in books, doing their homework last minute before school starts. “Nichols, you’re late!” Gina, a thirty-something woman with short hair announces from behind the counter. Nicky rolls her eyes, “Give me a minute.” She says to Shani. The brunette nods and sits down at a table, taking in her surroundings while ridding herself off her heavy coat.  
Nicky grabs a clean towel as she enters the employees area, drying her hair quickly, 

“Ah, Барышня Nichols, here at last. I’m glad we could fit into your very busy schedule.” Red clasps her hands in front of herself. Galina ‘Red’ Reznikov is the owner of this shop, chef of the kitchen, a mother figure to most of the women who work here. She came here, God knows how long ago, from Russia with her husband Dimitri, co-owner of this place, but rarely seen. The elder woman is kind and motherly, until you get on her bad side. 

“Ma, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, eh? I’ll make up for it, promise.” Nicky smiles sweetly, knows Red can’t be mad at her for too long. After all, she was like a daughter to her. The russian had helped her through most of her shit, but Nicky didn’t like to talk about it. Red cups her cheeks, “You know better than to make promises you can’t keep.” Nicky kisses her cheek then puts on her apron and grabs her notepad. 

“What can I get you?” She asks, as she approaches Shani. “Surprise me.” She folds her hands under her chin and smiles up at Nicky. “And whatever you want, I invited you, remember?” The brunette adds, “Hey, how about we go out tonight?” Nicky suggests. “You know, when I don’t have to work.” Shani laughs, “That sounds nice. It’s a date!” She exclaims. Nicky can’t help but get excited, a date. She hasn’t had one of those since her and Lorna went out that one time. Lorna started working here a year after Nicky, they quickly became friends. She had a boyfriend at the time, Christopher, but he broke up with her. Lorna was a jealous person, couldn’t stand him even looking at other women. Soon Nicky and her started sleeping together, it happened by mistakes, but they kept going until Lorna ended it to try and get Christopher back. Nicky has to admit, she was kind of heartbroken then, she had a major crush on her friend. 

Nicky serves some other costumers before she gets back to Shani. “Can I ask you something?” She questions, drumming her fingers on the table. “Sure, spill.” Nicky shrugs and puts her beverage down in front of her. “Is your boss looking to hire?” The blonde raises an eyebrow. “I really need a job, you know, this place seems nice.” Shani smiles. If they were to work together, Nicky knew she’d be even more distracted than she already is, but Shani really needs this. “I can ask her. Maybe she has time for a quick job interview.” Nicky says. Working with her could also have advantages, seeing her every day would totally motivate her to come to work.


	2. two

Nicky stands in front of Red minutes later, the russian woman has her arms crossed, not impressed by the interruption. “Nicky, I have mouths to feed and people to serve, unlike you I’m busy doing my job.” She mutters, going back to work. “That’s exactly why I’m here, you know, I met someone, she needs a job, you need help in the kitchen, we all help each other, right?” Nicky gestures wildly with her hands. “You want me to hire your flavour of the week? You don’t get anything done as it is, you think one of your flames is gonna help?” Nicky sighs, “It’s not like that, Red. I’m trynna help here, she really needs a job. At least give her a chance? She has experience.” The russian woman set her palms flat on the table and turns her head to look at Nicky. She watches her think for a moment, before she receives an answer. “Send her to my office and then get to work, Norma would you take over?” Norma just nods her head, she never talks, communicates through notes, facial expressions and gestures only. 

Nicky grins, satisfied with her work. It wasn’t easy to convince Red, but she always had a soft spot for her favorite daughter – she had taken in Tricia a few years ago, Nicky had brought her in one day, nearly begging her to help her detox and get her life together, get her off the streets. But she couldn’t help herself, they were her girls, they were family. 

Within the next few minutes, Nicky makes sure Shani finds her way to Red’s office. “I will have to leave after this, so if we don’t see each other again, here’s my number.” Shani hands her a piece of paper, Nicky raises an eyebrow. “You’re kidding me?” She laughs in confusion. “If you really want that date, you will find a way.” Shani winks and walks into Red’s office. A small room with a tiny window, the walls covered by shelfs filled with files. Behind the desk sits Red, glasses on her nose as she studies the woman in front of her. “You are Shani?” She purses her lips. “Yes, my name is Shani Abboud. I have my resumée with me.” She pulls the documents out of her bag, handing it to her. Shani sits down on the chair and folds her hands on her lap. They sit in silence while Red reads the papers. Red looks up from the documents, right into her eyes. “Probation, if you do good you stay. You start tomorrow at 7.30, don’t be late.” Shani lets out a sigh of relief, “Thank you so much, Miss Reznikov. I will not disappoint you.” She shakes her hand, puts her resumée back. “Of course.” 

Nicky lets herself fall onto the chair with a groan, she has been on her feet for hours, decided to ditch her break earlier. Lorna walks in, changes into her uniform in front of her, “Wasn’t your shift over an hour ago or something?” She asks. “Yeah, would’ve been, but I was late.” She puts her elbows on the table in front of her and grins, “Hey, kid, can I borrow your phone for a sec?” Lorna raises her eyebrows. “What happened to yours?” She mirrors her expression. “Long story, no time, can I?” She holds out her hand. Nicky watches as Lorna hesitantly reaches for it and hands it to her, unsure. “Put it back where it belongs after, no silly stuff a’right?” The brunette points her finger at her as she walks out of the door backwards. Nicky’s grin brightens as she takes out the Shani’s note and types the number into the phone. 

It takes a few rings until she finally picks up, for a second Nicky thought Shani gave her a wrong number. “Hello?” She answers, “Hey… hey, it’s Nicky.” She responds. “Nicky, who?” The blonde coughs. “Sorry, I must’ve called the wrong number.” Shani laughs loudly, “No, sorry, I’m just fucking with you.” Nicky smirks, “Well, I like the sound of that.” She cringes after realizing what she said. “So the date… any idea where we could go?” She asks, Nicky has been in enough fancy restaurants in her life, her parents had dragged from one to another through her life, hated it and still does. “Hmm,” Shani thinks, “What if we didn’t go out? We could cook together, that could be fun.” Nicky and cooking, an interesting combination. The woman has never prepared a damn meal in her life. “Uh, sure. Why not?” She agrees nonetheless, she could try. It can’t be that hard, can it? They decide on a time, Nicky gives Shani her address and with a ‘see you later’ they end the call. 

Shani had told her to surprise her with what they’d make. Nicky decides they’ll make tater tots, after all they were ‘the only thing Shani came to America for’. She prints out the recipe in Red’s office, makes a quick stop at the store to buy the ingredients then takes the bus home to get ready.

Loud music blasts through the small apartment Shani lives in, she doesn’t really mind when it’s not in the middle of the night, when she’s trying to get sleep. “Maritza, I need your help.” She leaves her room and interrupts her two roommates’ bickering. Maritza and Flaca are like siblings, at first she was convinced they actually are, but turns out they are best friends. “Shani, where are you going looking so good?” Flaca teases. “I have a date.” She answers, a blush creeping on her cheeks. “I need your opinions, I can’t figure out what to do with my hair.” Maritza jumps up from her seat on the couch. “Alright, I’ve been waiting for this moment ever since you moved in. How about, we cut off a few inches-“ Shani slaps her hand away as she reaches for her hair and moves back with a frown, “Not like that, I mean should I put it up like this?” She puts her curls into a bun, “Or wear it down.” She lets it fall again and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. Maritza pouts, disappointed that she wasn’t allowed to cut it. “You’ve officially lost your privilege to get advice from me.” She sits back down next to Flaca, who leans forward. “It looks better down, if you ask me. What if you did a little half up, half down look though? I bet that would look cute.” She smiles, Shani thanks them and goes back to her room, finishing her look. She leaves the building minutes later, excited to spend the evening with Nicky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the positive feedback i've been getting so far. this chapter doesn't have much nicky x shani, but there will be more in the next! x


End file.
